


Double Mother of Four

by ObsceneSins



Series: The Quadruple-Twin Generation sequence. [2]
Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Children, Incest, M/M, Nesting, Phone Sex, Rutting, Sex, Sex Talk, Toddlers, Twins
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-04
Updated: 2018-01-04
Packaged: 2019-02-28 05:02:37
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,683
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13264251
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ObsceneSins/pseuds/ObsceneSins
Summary: Richard is an understanding person.Richard is normally, a happy male omega. Normally.Richard has two, amazing toddlers that take up almost all of his time.Richard also has two toddler nephews of the same age.What Richard isn’t, is a full time babysitter.





	Double Mother of Four

**Author's Note:**

> This has been sitting on my laptop for a long while and since I got laid off, it seems I have a lot more free time. Hopefully I can get back into writing again.

Richard is an understanding person.

Richard is normally, a happy male omega. Normally.

Richard has two, amazing toddlers that take up almost all of his time.

Richard also has two toddler nephews of the same age.

What Richard isn’t, is a full time babysitter.

Richard has been babysitting his brother’s sons for the past few weeks during one of his brothers special “business” trips out of the country. Meaning, Richard has been left with four kids, by himself, as Jim has taken along his own Alpha as well his own, the blonde, stoic Moran brothers.

He blinks, and in his tired, hazed mind, he remembers what he has been doing. He bounces the squirming toddler on his hip, his frazzled mind not realizing he was being smacked in the face over and over by his son- or was it Jim’s?- while another one clung to his leg. He sighed, and turned off the stove in front of him, wondering if the melted cheese sandwiches he had made would earn him full bellies and a nap from the kids. He set the toddler he had been holding on the ground, and shifted his leg to shake the other one off.

“NO!” the baby to his left screamed. The other one on his right mimicked what Richie knew now was his incessant brother, and he groaned in response as he started to be beat on by his two nephews. He sighed, holding the pan as he carried it to the small kitchen table, swamped by four hungry toddlers.

It took ten minutes of strapping them into high chairs before he passed out the now-cooled sandwiches and watched them chow down. He sat, huffing for a moment, before looking at all the kids.

Jim and Richard had induced and given birth on the same night, while being twins and having also bonded with twins, and as a result, had produced their own matching sets of twins.

One set of four matching faces stared back at him as they munched and Richie sighed.

The kids seemed to definitely take after their choice of parent it seemed, as Jim’s kids had been giving him grey hair since they’d been left with him. The constant plate smashing, crayon-wall scribbling, screaming nonsense had become old in the past few weeks.  

There really wasn’t much of a difference in between his two sons, Matthew and Maxwell, in physical differences to Jim’s kids,  Landon and Logan.

Personality wise?  There was a major difference.  They screamed, told him no, beat and spit on him for disciplining them when they broke things.

Richard was practically counting the days until Jim came back.

Or he would, if he knew when his insane twin was returning.

Richard watched as the four babies began to nod off in their chairs, bellies full of warm food, and tired out from their constant screaming.

He wondered when his job as a double mother would end. Or at the very most, give him a break.

He carried them to bed once they’d tuckered out and he was finally free, sitting in his home, surrounded by his baskets of laundry and piles of forgotten toys.

He didn’t know if the silence was comfortable or jarring for him these days without Severin. While it was comforting knowing he had a break from the kids, his whole body was tense for another human to talk to. His cellphone rang, and even though it startled him, he was grateful for something to take over the tense silence. He snatched it up, and accepted the call.

“Hello?”

“ _Hey love.”_ The voice of his alpha rang clear through the phone and his heart swooned. He hadn’t seen or heard from Severin in what felt like weeks. He had been warned of this the night before he left, packing his bag as Richard laid in bed, coddling their two sons next to him.

“ _When will you be back_?” he had asked, but Severin had shaken his head in silence, meaning he didn’t know either. Richard was always terrified of the day he would ask that question, not get an answer, and Severin would never come back.

But he always came back _. Always._

“Severin! It feels like a breath of fresh air to hear your voice.” He purred softly over the phone, the prolonged time away from his Alpha had made his Omega side susceptible to succumbing. Severin chuckled, and Richard shivered, trembling all over his body.

“I know, love. Jim is….I probably shouldn’t say it over the phone. I’ll be home soon, though. I promise. How are my boys?” Richard groaned and stood off the couch, pacing.

“These kids are driving me insane. I birthed two of these bastards, not four. I didn’t sign up for this, Sev. I need you to come home.” Severin was quiet for a moment.

“Why don’t you place them in day care for the time being?” Richard flopped onto the couch, feeling his clothes settle against him. The words from the other end of the line made him relax a little.

“I honestly didn’t consider that, which probably shows just how well of a mother I’m being. I’ll sign them up tomorrow.”  He had honestly considered daycare, but without Jim there, he couldn’t get a full opinion on where or not he could (or should) take them.

“Shush, Richie. You’re a wonderful mother. I was there the night you gave birth, I watched you as nursed both of my children and struggled to fill their stomachs with milk. You’re a great mother, Richard. I’m proud to have such an adoring Omega.” Richard’s face was hot, and he sat up a little straighter, feeling his stomach grow warm from his praising.

He purred softly over his cellphone, and Severin grunted, his rugged, honeyed words coming over the speaker into his ear.

“You better stop that purring, my little omega. You’re making me ache.” He said quietly. From the sound of it, Richie knew he was turned on. He sat up, pulled his legs onto the couch, and pushed a pillow beneath him. He began to rut against it, feeling his own length harden in his lounge pants.

“Severin, I want you, I miss you so much.” He purred softly.  His Alpha growled over the phone, his words coming out dark and throaty.

“Richie, I can’t do anything here, I can’t even stay on the phone long enough to please you. When I get home, you’d best be ready to nest for a few days with me.” Richie groaned in displease, angry at his Alpha for how many heats he had already missed, and for promising something he could not possibly keep.

“You’d best keep your promise. I’m going into heat in a few weeks.” Severin growled.

“I promise, love, I will do _something_ for your pleasure.” The two of them groaned as they felt intense heat just from passing words, Richie purring outloud.

“Richie, I love you, I have to go. I’ll do something, anything, to please you.” The call disconnected before he could finish, and he rutted on the pillow, soaking it as he dropped the phone on the floor. He exhaled heavily on his release, falling onto his couch, panting, tears in his eyes. He hadn’t such a heavy release, or any for that matter, in so long. He laid on the couch, feeling suddenly heavy and blue. Sebastian and he hadn’t made love in some time, and it was Jim’s fault.

The high pitched cry of one of his babies made him perk up and he stood in a hurry, awkwardly remembering his pants were full of-

He stripped, dropped them to the floor, and hurried to climb into a new pair he grabbed from his separate laundry basket, hopping into them before rushing to his child’s aid.

He discovered the crib he had deposited his nephew in had been pushed away from the wall, scooted next to his brother’s and two babies were inside of it. He sighed, watching as Logan and Lucas throttled the crib together, pulling one another’s hair. He grabbed Lucas (or was it Logan?) and yanked him out of the crib.

“If you two don’t care to be around each other, then why do you fight to be in the same crib?” he sighed, and pushed his nephews bed back to where it belonged, depositing the squirming toddler into his crib.

“No!” he yelled, and went to hit his uncle. Richard grabbed his little hand and shook his finger in his nephew’s face.

“You do NOT hit, Lucas.”  The baby pouted.

“No, Lucas. Lucas!” The baby tried to pull his hand away, and squirmed.

“You’re mean!”

“Well, I have to be with you as family!” Richard screamed back. The baby flopped onto his bum and glared at Richie, who in misplaced resentment, glared back.

Lucas began to cry softly, and Richard’s heart sunk. He hadn’t meant to be so harsh on his nephew and certainly hadn’t meant what he’d said. He picked up Lucas, and gave him a large hug.

“Sorry, pal.” He set him back down and glanced at his sons, who were nestled in their own cribs, quiet, sleeping. Logan was staring at the affair in the crib next to his, and Richard leaned in to pat his head, popping a dummy into his mouth. He waited until the last two boys laid down, and nodded off before tip toeing from the room.

He shut the door, and sat against the wall for a moment, feeling overwhelming doubt about how he had handled this. Maybe he wasn’t a good mom after all.

**XXX**

The circus show that was he and his four kids piled into a large, four-seated pram was a sight to see. Being as Richard never left the house, groceries and necessities were delivered for him, this was as awkward for him as parties for introverts would be.

Matthew and Maxwell whined from their positions in the front.

“Mummy! Logan keeps kicking me!” the responding toddler kicked his cousin’s chair and he listened to Maxwell whine in anger.

“Logan, stop kicking Maxie’s chair. “ It was back and forth like this everyday, telling Logan and Lucas to stop torturing his own children, though they never listened. Richard was beaten down by the brunt of it all, and he stopped at the daycare, popping the stroller up so he could glide up the stairs quickly.

It had been rated very well, and wasn’t very far from the house. He met the teacher and dropped the children off, watching them parade into the classroom like….like normal kids. Not ones that were born from a psychotic mad man, or his twin brother.

He retreated home, leaving the pram behind with the permission from the staff, and decided to reward himself with some tea, adult telly, and a nap.  After a quick coffee house break, he finished his pastry from the counter and decided to return home, walking to enjoy the day. His keys twisted into the lock of the door before he knew it and he sighed in content in his warm home, happy to be free for once.

The slow creak of the door down the hall spooked him, and for a few brief seconds, he was on alert. His body was tense, his feet firmly on the floor.

For the past two years, his life had been ultimately quiet. But before that, before the pups, before they moved, Jim and Richard had, of course, been a target for Jim’s “business” partners. And before that into his childhood and teen years, his drunk father who owed so many people money had been susceptible to people breaking in, looking for cash or to beat the bastard bloody. Richie had come home to a knife at his throat too many times. But he had been ready, so this would be no exception.

He slowly reached for the thick, solid maple cane he left in the umbrella stand, knowing it wouldn’t make too much noise, but pack a powerful blow to the head.

He stalked quietly down the hall, listening to the sounds of what seemed like someone shifting through his furniture. He raised the cane, slowly opened the door-

He dropped the cane in surprise when he saw Jim in his bed, his clothes and blankets piled around the bed in a nest, his room humid with the stench of his fancy colognes and exotic deoderants Jim insisted on gifting him that he never used. Almost a mirror image of him, Jim was in his bed in nothing but a dressing gown, thighs soaked, whimpering into the duvet.

“Jim?” His older twin sat up, breathing heavily. He was erect, and wet, dripping with pheromones. His pupils were wide. He was obviously hazy with an early heat, either that or just mindlessly horny.

“My…My Richie, my Richie. Come to me, my Richie rich.” Jim purred, whimpered, practically sobbed. Richard would’ve insisted no, would’ve been angry at his brother for having arrived unannounced, tearing apart his room, not saying hello to his children, if he hadn’t understood his brother’s relentless need for his womb mate, his other omega half. Richard stripped to climb into the nest with Jim, holding him in his arms. He was sane for now, and he hoped he could stay steady. Jim started peppering kisses all over his brother’s neck.

“Mmmm, missed this, us, my Richie.” Jim growled, licking over Severin’s bite, his mark on Richard’s scent gland, another step in the bonding process for the two. He shivered in delight, and went to nibble on Sebastian’s, noticing how deep and angry the bite was, showing off Seb’s violent, sexual predator side that the mostly stoic and silent alpha never showed.

Richard groaned as Jim’s fingers felt him, rubbing him open, making him wet, as if the pheromones from his Omega brother weren’t enough. He desperately craved the attention from one of his pack, even if his Alpha could not be here to satisfy him, his brother would do.

Richard threw Jim back on the bed, their hazy gazes meeting, and slid down on Jim’s slim, Omega cock. It would have to do for now.

The two were slick, grunting and whining in unison as they attempted to reach orgasm. Richard’s legs ached as he rode Jim, bouncing up and down wildly. Jim’s small pelvis couldn’t take much of the riding, and he soon flipped over, burying himself inside of Richard’s sopping wet heat.

“Oh how I’ve missed this.” He whined. Richie nipped at his throat and growled as Jim fucked him, his hips thrusting wildly, not comparing anything to an alpha cock, but doing the job for now.

“You should’ve missed your children more than sex.” Richard was angry and Jim rolled his eyes, pushing Richie deeper into the bed, the nest of clothes collapsing all over them, smothering them in heat and scent.

Jim fucked harder, feeling Richard’s vaginal fluids gush and slide down his thighs. He grabbed his brother’s hand and forced him to jerk his own cock as he hurriedly fucked him, wanting pure release. Richie gave a loud moan in between his purring- that did it.

Jim whined loud as he bottomed out in Richard, feeling his hot semen ejaculate inside of Richie, whose own orgasm ended on his stomach. They separated, and Jim collapsed next to him, grinning like a maniac.

Richard, after a few moments of panting, came down from his high and sighed, standing from the bed and opening a window slightly.

“You really could’ve done without bursting my fragrances everywhere.” He groaned as he aired out the room. Jim laughed in response.

“I just wanted the room to smell like you.” Richard groaned and began picking up his clothes and blankets, depositing them in their rightful places, to be folded and sorted later.

“You can’t keep doing this, Jim. You can’t drop by, build a nest for comfort and fuck me when you feel like it. We have children now, families. It won’t make sense to them when they grow up, and accidentally stumble across us in bed or something.” Richard found a dirty hand towel, but used it to wipe himself up, tossing it into the dirty hamper.

“You act as if you don’t care for it.” Jim growled playfully from the bed, but Richard kept folding. Jim stood from the bed in a bratty huff, stomping to his brother’s backside. He pulled his twin to turn around and snarled at him in an irritated manner, pushing him against the bed frame.

“I come home for the first time in weeks, and this is how you act?”

“I want _Severin_ to come home, Jim. I have a family now, and so do you. If you don’t want to be involved with them like I do, great, but I wont let you spoil what I’ve built.” Richie said in a huff, turning back to his laundry.

Jim stepped back, having not anticipated this from Richard. He had been expecting several rounds of sex, and oral sex while the hormones still played a part in Richie’s happiness upon his brother returning home. Home hadn’t been like that for a while, and Jim had grown restless. The apparent discourse of his little routine had been thrown off course since the pups. He had accepted his fate the night he decided Richie should get what he wants and Jim was aggravated.

But for once,  just once,he wanted it back, and Richard didn’t comply.

In an attempt to get what he wanted, he laid in the now empty bed and sulked, but Richie ignored him.

“Why don’t you ever seem to care for me anymore?” he whined. Richard groaned.

 _This_ was the side of his brother that would cause the fall of his criminal underground network, the whiny, spoiled omega that had attention seeking issues, specifically post coitus. Richie sighed, knowing he wanted to get angry, truly, but he couldn’t. He carried a laundry basket to the bed and began folding, tossing a pair of sleep pants at Jim.

“It’s not that I don’t care, James. You pop in from all these mysterious trips, you say hi to your kids, or try for a quick session of bed romping, then leave. That’s not how this works now.” He sat down on the edge of the large bed, dipping into the mattress.

For a second, Jim contemplated sitting up and grabbing him, displaying what he could count as comfort, even if he really didn’t care for it. Richard knew that Jim didn’t really care, but he tried his best to appease his brother.

They were both quiet, awkward and tense.

Two different people with the same face.

“Theyre…brilliant. Like you, you know.” Jim chuckled and moved down to the end of the bed, settling next to him.  Jim knew he wasn’t mother material. Never had been. His mental instability was too much of a hurdle to cross.

“Really now?” He chuckled. Richard shoved him softly.

“Yeah…They learned how to get into a crib together, but just to fight. They’re stubborn little ones. Can talk, and know who they are for whenever I switch them up. They fight, little boxers, but theyre strong.” Richie smiled down into his lap, shifting his hands before running his palms down his thighs. He turned to Jim, who had moved to wrap himself around the bed post, sulking quietly. Richie may have been the smaller and more quiet of the two, the naïve one, but Jim had always presented as having dark issues in his mind.

The balance between them was thrown off now that he couldn’t be there to control him somewhat. His time had run out with Richie, and it broke Richie’s heart to know Jim was just as alone, if not even more so.

He sighed, and stood, stepping in front of Jim, pausing for a moment.

“I can’t always be what you need to even out your scales, Jim. Sometimes you have to do it on your own.” Jim laughed, a large smile on his face, but Richie could see the crazed look in his hazy, teary eyes.

“I haven’t even got a pair of scales, Richie.” He sighed, knowing full and well that Jim was probably going to be falling into a depressive episode any hour now, so he sighed and yanked his twin to him, his thinner brother wrapping his arms around Richie’s waist and sniffling into his shirt. Richard sighed and glanced at the clock, making a small gasp. He was late to picking up the children and made it evident as he pulled away from Jim to get dressed. The distressed whine from jim made him stop, feeling his heart race for a moment. It was natural instincts that called attention to his brother, but he growled at him, and shoved some clothes into his arms.

“Get dressed. You cannot be doing this to me today, I have to set a good impression for the teachers.”

Jim blinked.

“Teachers?”

**XXXX**

Jim appeared very awkward and small standing in his children’s classroom, clad in a large, loose sweater and regular jeans as Richard spoke to the teacher, the class of toddlers distracted by the fact there were not only four boys that looked practically identical but their grown ups that came to get them did too. The boys were being clustered in a group and Jim frowned as they were turning away from the other toddlers but one of them was glaring at him, his soft round cheeks pink. Richard finished up and led the boys from the room, Jim behind him. He glanced back at the teacher, who was eyeballing the group as they walked out.

He almost had the audacity to send the bitch to hell when Richie hissed at him as he put the boys into the stroller.

“Don’t even think about it.” Jim raised his hands in defense, but knew he couldn’t play off his dirty thoughts.

The walk home was quiet and Jim had to pace to keep up with Richie, who seemed aggravated he had to drag his brother to come down and get his own children.

Once home, Richie released the demon spawns to play, and watched as they toddled off to corners of the house immediately, a subtle crash heard from the bedroom. He sighed and flopped onto the couch. Jim, on the other hand, was having a staring match with one of the boys, and Richard watched cautiously as the toddler seemed to stare him down.

Jim had never felt more intimidated. His own child Lucas was glaring him down, before turning and walking away to join the others. His chest felt tight and his legs went weak as he sunk onto the couch next to Richie.

“My children hate me.” Richard let out a heavy exhale.

“They’re confused. They don’t see you as their mother. You haven’t been around as much.” Jim looked at Richie, unsure as how to approach this. He felt uncomfortable staring at the little bugger, but all the same had wanted to stoop and hug it.

“I don’t understand why they don’t just love me. I gave birth to them. “ Richard shook his head, exasperated at Jim.

“Even you cannot be that ridiculous about this. Jim, they’re bloody kids, they don’t know you.”

To his surprise, Jim stood and Richard watched as he vanished into the kid’s bedroom and came out a moment later, holding two squirmy kids that were hollering and slapping him with their chubby fists.

“Jim, you can’t-“

“They’re mine, I’m taking them out of here and I will show them what kind of mother I can be.” Richard’s eyes went wide as he realized Jim was being quite manic about the whole issue, and stood to stop him, but backed off with a whine as his brother growled and flashed his canines. Richard couldn’t do anything more after that, knowing jim would probably go full defense over his pups.

It would end bloody.

He tried to soothe him with words instead. He raised his hands to show surrender, and said coaxingly,

“Jim, you haven’t had much experience taking care of them. Let them stay here and I’ll show you.” But jim growled and clutched his children closer, his small pups whimpering as they mother growled at the one that had been taking care of them for long.

The door opened behind jim in the middle of this and they both turned to see their respective Alphas. Appearing confused, they both glanced between the two.

Before Richard could move to speak, Jim rushed to Sebastian, his face red and hot tears running from his eyes.

“Richie won’t let me take the babies!”  that was that was needed to be said, and Sebastian growled menacingly at Severin and Richard. They didn’t dare to make a move, glued to their spots as the alpha took his children and escorted his hysterical Omega out. The door slammed, and it was quiet once more.

Richard’s heart was racing and he trembled, before turning to Severin, unsure so to whether he should embrace his Alpha or go after them. The alpha was glaring at the door, before grabbing Richard and clutching him close, an embrace that showed he was tired and he was home and he _missed_  Richard.

They didn’t say anything for a while to one another. Not even when the boys toddled into the room and hollered in happiness that their da was home, who scooped them up and hugged them and nuzzled them, the pups purring and holding their fathers face as he rubbed, rubbed, rubbed.

The night was quiet between them two, through dinner to putting the boys to bed, they didn’t pass many words, Richard still quietly in shock at the sudden return of his Alpha after gone for so long and the wreck he had trembled into when Sebastian and Jim had both growled and shut him out.

He felt like his pack had suddenly been split in two and it scared him.

Once the bedroom door was shut that night, Severin slipped his hands beneath Richard’s clothes and made love to him aggressively, his moans filling the silence between them from the day. Severin pounded Richard, holding him from behind, clutching his whimpering omega, whispering words of love and sexual arousal into his lovers ear. Richard came with an intensity that matched the one he and jim had earlier and he cried out, heavily, as he did so. Seerin wasn;t finished though, and let go of Richie’s arms, his lover falling onto the bed, his knees trembling as Severin forced his hips to stay in the air but pressed down on Richie’s back to force his face into the mattress, pounding with such a fervent passion.

Richie whined and gripped the sheets, his sweaty palms making them slip, but held on as he pleased his Alpha, waiting until he felt his Alpha’s cock speeding up, thrusting into him, making his toes curl. His insides were being pummeled and he cried out as hot pleasurable pain let him know Severin had pushed himself all the way up into his Omega and ejaculated, pressing against his cervix. It was their instincts telling them to mate, but it was fruitless to force his tip into Richie’s uterus’ his birth control was a lot stronger than beforehand.

Severin pulled him into a large cuddle after he slipped out of him. He held him close, kissing him eagerly, his litte omega being peppered all over, being nuzzled and scented as well.

“I missed you, I missed you oh so much.” Richard sighed in content, closing his eyes. He felt so weary he collapsed onto severins chest shortly after and spooned him.

“How I’ve missed this.” He wept softly, tears spilling over into severin’s chest, dotting his skin and chest hair with his tears. Severin kissed them away from his omega;s cheek and stroked his skin.

They were quiet for a moment before Richard wrapped his arms underneath Severin and whimpered.

“Don’t leave me again. Not like you did, not like this last time.”

“I won’t.” he said softly, clutching Richie back. A dry laugh came from him.

“there’s no point in promising something you cant keep.” Severin shook his head and forced his omegas head up, to meet his gaze and wipe his eyes.

“I told Jim I couldn’t do it anymore. Nearly a whole year from my family, it’s too much. I’ve lost so much time from my pups I cannot get back.” Richard blinked and tears he had been holding back fell down his face, running under his jaw and pooling in his collar bone. They grasped one another and Severin softly kissed Richard’s hairline.

“And don’t worry about Jim or Sebastian. Jim will come back once he realized that motherhood is harder than he thinks.” Richie sighed.

“I don’t know, Sev. He’s very prideful in his ways.” He rolled over and sighed, before nudging Sev.

So, tell me, where did you all go this time?” severin chuckled before gathering the details to tell Richard how this last trip had been, all night.

 

**XXXXX**

Severin’s words rang true, even if they were put off for a bit. The silence and distance between Richie and Jim had last all but two weeks when Jim finally left him a weeping, messy voicemail to wake up to. He had picked up his boys and rushed to Jim’s flat. The whole building was owned by Jim, but he and Richard lived in the most spacious ones up top.

He bustled into the flat, being met with the sight of Jim pacing in a small area with his hands on his head, his hair frazzled. He looked ridiculous, and Richard could see the apartment was very dirty, this indicated to Richard that something was very wrong indeed.

“Richie,” Jim’s voice was hoarse, and he forced a tune into it to appear happy, “ welcome, welcome, come in, it’s been a minute, hasni’t it?-“

Something crashed in the other room and both of them turned to to the noise upon hearing crying.

Jim broke down into his hands and Richie could hear his weeping. He set his squirmy boys down and unbuttoned their coats, letting them toddle off to do their own thing before kneeling to hold his brother.

“I can’t do it, Richie, I can’t. They cry and they scream and they hit me when I tell them no.” Richard listened to his brother’s pitiful weeping, holding him in his arms to calm him down. It was a pathetic display to his image as a mother, and Richard wanted to slap him out of it. He had been so willing to go through with having the pups with Richard without considering the possibility that he wasn’t fit to be a mother at all.

He forced Jim to his feet, making him stand despite wobbling as he did.

“Pull yourself together, first of all. You look pathetic.” Jim paused his sobbing and it hit Richard in that moment, where Jim turned his large, teary eyes on him, that this mustve been what he appeared like whenever Jim had yelled down at him as a child and teen.

“Richie, you didn’t mean that, come on, I know you d-“

“Yes, I did, I meant it. You’ve faced potential death situations many times as if they were games and here you are, sobbing over two toddlers that came from your own womb. You are a mother, you need to act like it.” They both were quiet except for the sniffling that came from jim, and Richie sighed to himself. He grabbed Jim’s arm and pulled him to follow.

“Come on, I’ll show you.”

**XXXX**

Jim had watched in awkward, distinguishable quietness, unlike his normal boisterous self, as Richard decided to show him the ropes of motherhood.

They had discovered the source of the crash (it was a vase) and punished Lucas and Logan by forcing them into time out whilst they cleaned the mess.  They  played with all four boys (something Jim seemed to struggle to understand as he wondered why his sons cared for the wooden blocks so much but Richie yakked on him to be quiet.) Lunch was prepared, with jim looking over his shoulder, and they ate it in front of kids telly.

Getting them to nap was the easiest and once he laid his own boys down, he carried his nephews over to his brother. His nephews, for once, were quiet and out like lights, giving Richie a hard time seeing their sweet faces as the monsters they are when theyre usually awake. He gently set them into Jim’s lap, who appeared uncomfortable and out of place as Richie instructed him on how to hold his sons and to cradle them.

“Hold their head…there, you’ve gotten it.” Jim was silent for a moment, eyes wide, then chuckled softly as he began to slowly rock his sons, gazing at both of them in his arms.

“I’m doing it. I’m cradling my little bastards.” Richie put his hand to his face and sighed, before setting himself in front of Jim.

“No more nearly year long trips.” Jim raised his head at Richie and they shared a long look.

“Your boys need you. More importantly, you need your boys. You know nearly nothing about this… About being a mum. It’s time you learned. I won’t take care of them as my own children anymore, that’s your job. Anymore, and they’ll slowly lose their bond to you. They will never identify you as their mother. Do you understand?” He gave a hard look to his brother and Jim shared it back, before looking at his sons.

“No more trips.” He spoke quietly.

In that moment, Richard realized just like with his pregnancy, his love life, his teenage years and his childhood, they were both in this.

He knelt by Jim and put a hand on his shoulder.

“We’ll do this….together.”

 

 


End file.
